Obama backers say he's on track to fix economy

Obama campaign logo is seen under the scoreboard hanging from the ceiling inside of Time Warner Cable Arena at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
— AP

Obama campaign logo is seen under the scoreboard hanging from the ceiling inside of Time Warner Cable Arena at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
/ AP

While admittedly, the job growth has not been robust enough to nudge the unemployment rate downward, Gin believes the kind of government intervention that Obama advocates and Romney eschews will help foster continued employment growth.

“Right now, the problem is lack of consumer demand, so someone needs to step in and boost that demand, and that’s what government spending on infrastructure would do,” he said. “When those new jobs are created and workers receive those wages, they go out and spend it in the economy, and that boosts the demand that business owners are looking for.”

With Bush-era tax cuts due to expire by the end of the year, Obama has said he wants to allow taxes to rise for households earning more than $250,000 while protecting the middle class from tax increases, a move he believes will restore fairness to the tax system.

A makeover last year of the Grossmont trolley station to make it more pedestrian-friendly received federal stimulus funds.— John Gastaldo

A makeover last year of the Grossmont trolley station to make it more pedestrian-friendly received federal stimulus funds.
— John Gastaldo

“With Obama, he wants to grow the economy from the middle class out,” says Lorena Gonzalez, who heads the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council. “Romney wants to go back to failed trickle-down economics by giving tax breaks to the wealthy with the hope it will trickle down. If you do that, we’re just reopening the wound that has already started to heal.”

North Park restaurateur Matt Gordon, who says he’s been having a harder time filling job openings as the local dining scene has rebounded, agrees.

“I’m not a fan of trickle-down economics, giving the rich the most money to spend, because in the long term I don’t think it will help many of us,” said Gordon, owner of Urban Solace and a sister restaurant in Encinitas. “I don’t think I’d have a long line of people coming to Urban Solace from Rancho Santa Fe if they got taxed less.”

While wealthy himself, Rancho Santa Fe businessman Michael Gelfand says he sees no benefits accruing from tax breaks for the rich, especially during a still fragile economic recovery.

“Any tax savings they get they’re hoarding it,” said Gelfand, owner of a real estate investment management company that manages RV and mobile home parks, as well as marinas.

What Gelfand favors instead is continued stimulus spending that he believes is a jobs generator. He offered as an example the $6.8 million bike and pedestrian bridge built in the Mission Bay area with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

“First, you put people to work building that bridge, and then there’s the churning of those people and the money they spend that goes into the pockets of others who are working,” Gelfand said. “We went through a great depression, and we know what worked to get us out of that. Number one, you invest in the construction of roads and infrastructure.”

As much as Obama has been criticized by Republicans for racking up trillions of dollars in debt, his supporters argue that sharply curbing spending at a time when the economy remains sluggish can hurt more than it helps.”

“Republicans say we’re just digging ourselves into greater debt, but when people are out of work and the economy is in a tailspin, you have to spend money through the government to get things back on track,” said Kevin Kinsella, a La Jolla venture capitalist who invests in technology and biotech companies. This notion you can continue to cut taxes and everything will always get better just isn’t true.”